Journey to freedom...

springything

New member
Hi, I'm Nat. Female, 5'3", 206lbs. 33 years old and married with 3 kids. I've had a skewed relationship with food all my adult life. At 17 when I got my first full time job I would buy family size tubs of 'low-fat' ice cream and sit in my room and eat the whole thing every evening. Food had always been rationed at home for financial and health reasons.

Last year I followed Lighterlife for 7 weeks. I consumed only protein shakes, soups and bars (400 kcals in total daily) and a minimum of 4 litres water per day (in reality it was 6lt min per day). You have to get BP checked at doctors every 4 weeks to follow this plan. During week 6 I was very unwell (too much water very quickly) and had to come off the diet. The 28lbs I had lost came piling back on and then some. Then followed 6 months of poor health (unrelated to the diet) where I was unable a lot of the time to even walk up the stairs. Prior to these 6 months I was dancing 3 times a week and resistance training 3-4 times per week. I was very fit and very strong.

Since then I have found it incredibly hard to lose even a couple of pounds. I can only assume this is because I have lost so much strength and maybe long term effects of the very low cal diet. I understand that metabolism cannot be permanantly damaged but assuming my body composition has changed drastically I guess my caloric needs have too.

I do resistance training 3 times a week and I walk/cycle 10 miles per day. I get a real high from my exercise. It is now time to sort out my food and therein lies the problem. I am most definitely an emotional eater and need to address this. There is a wealth of info on this site and it is taking a while to read through everything, however I am hopeful that here I can find -and offer in return I hope- the help, advice and support I need.
 
Hello welcome and it's great that you're here. Good for you on your diet and exercise program you've been maintaining, that's the hardest part in my opinion. I hope that this forum helps you to maintain your diet as well and I'm sure it will, as I've only been here for a few months and already I don't think I would be able to do this without everyone's support on WLF. I hope that you're through with that low-cal diet, and I've tried that sort of thing too and realized how impractical and harmful it is. Had I exerted the same amount of energy eating correctly and exercising all along rather than starving myself I would probably be at my goal weight already. I know I would. Again welcome, and fitday.com is excellent for watching your food/cal intake, and also your protein/carb/fat ratio. It's free and you can enter in custom foods and also I'd recommend recording your daily food intake as well as counting the calories for each day so that you are accurate and giving yourself the best possible chance to succeed. Good luck! :)
 
Thanks for the welcome. I will check out fitday - I saved it to my faves but not got around to looking yet! I am def through with the very low cal thing - I did it again late last year, stupid I know, and in all I spent 3 MONTHS of last year not eating yet here I am considerably heavier than when I began:doh:
Congratulations on your loss so far - nearly a quarter way through - well done you!
 
Back
Top